Dr. Carol McLeod called yesterday afternoon to say yes, just as we’d suspected, Jewell’s muscle enzyme levels were high.

We discussed options, and we decided on the less-invasive hair follicle test for determining if Jewell is positive for genetically induced PSSM. Dr. McLeod visited the University of Minnesota Web site to download the papers and instructions on submitting the hair sample.

In the meantime Stephanie Valberg, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, of the University of Minnesota Equine Center, responded to my questions about Jewell and PSSM.

Quite a bit of information on PSSM can be found on the University of Minnesota Web site  as well as on TheHorse.com by searching under